But what were the people on this list thinking? They had time to think about their decisions.

Here is our list of the worst off-track moves of 2012:

Dodge leaving

Dodge executives were surprised when Penske Racing decided in February to switch to Ford starting in 2013.

While Dodge didn’t have a contract with Penske for 2013, Dodge officials thought they had more time to get the deal done.

So then they went searching for teams interested in running Dodges in 2013. They found some, including Richard Petty Motorsports and Furniture Row Racing. But they didn’t think those programs were good enough to stand on their own and they decided to just pull out of NASCAR starting next year.

That seemed to be a silly move considering domestic competitors Ford and Chevrolet, not to mention Toyota, still are competing in NASCAR.

And now that Penske’s Brad Keselowski won the Sprint Cup championship in a Dodge, it is a huge opportunity lost.

Roush lets Kenseth bolt

Much like Dodge, Roush Fenway Racing was caught by surprise in thinking it had more time to get a deal done.

But Matt Kenseth apparently couldn’t wait any longer for Roush to secure sponsorship and put a deal together for 2013, so in June Kenseth opted to sign with Joe Gibbs Racing.

How could Roush Fenway let Kenseth and his 24 victories get away?

Part of it is just the sign of the times as far as sponsorship. But it also is a sign that if a team has a superstar, it needs to lock him up as soon as it can.

Richard Childress Racing apparently learned that as well as Kevin Harvick plans to join Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014.

Earnhardt hides concussion

Dale Earnhardt Jr. should be applauded for finally speaking up about not feeling well after his Oct. 7 wreck at Talladega.

But it can’t go unmentioned that Earnhardt knew he had a concussion after his Aug. 29 wreck at Kansas. He even said that if he had to do it again, he would have sought more medical attention after that accident rather than just mentioning something to his crew chief.

The fact that Earnhardt suffered two concussions without NASCAR knowing until he said something is unsettling. That NASCAR Chairman Brian France, when given the opportunity more than a month later to talk about any evaluation and/or potential changes in NASCAR’s concussion policies, applauded Earnhardt was downright disturbing.

Allmendinger fails drug test, bungles response

AJ Allmendinger failed a June 29 drug test administered by NASCAR. Apparently two days earlier, he later said, he took what he thought was an energy pill given to him by a friend of a friend. He said he believes the pill was Adderall and that is why he failed the drug test.

Drivers obviously know that they will be tested and know that they should not ingest anything they are unsure about. So Allmendinger’s taking the pill was dumb. He admits that.

The fact that he didn’t talk about that mistake for a few weeks didn’t help his cause. It appeared as if he was trying to hide something while his management team talked about trying to figure out if he tested positive for one of his energy supplements.

Kurt Busch’s suspension

Kurt Busch was suspended for berating and threatening a Sporting News reporter after the Nationwide race at Dover in June.

Busch, upset over a question about whether probation impacted the way he raced, said his NASCAR-issued probation kept him from kicking the reporter’s butt. NASCAR later suspended Busch for a week.

For the most part, Busch behaved the rest of the season but it was a typical Busch incident — one lapse in judgment turned into a huge headache and clouded his entire season.

Harvick and his crew chief

Despite back-to-back third-place finishes in the standings, Kevin Harvick decided he wanted a new crew chief after the 2011 season. And with Harvick being the BMOC at Richard Childress Racing, he got what he wanted.

Then he learned that maybe he didn’t need a change after all as he struggled with Shane Wilson. While RCR was down as a whole, Harvick lost confidence in Wilson, who was replaced in August.

And guess who replaced him? Gil Martin — the crew chief Harvick released after 2011. Now Harvick is happy again.

Sort of. He expects to have Martin as his crew chief until he — Harvick — leaves for Stewart-Haas Racing following the 2013 season.

Gibbs cuts Kyle’s schedule

After Kyle Busch was suspended in November 2011 for retaliating against Ron Hornaday in a Camping World Truck Series race at Texas, Joe Gibbs Racing convinced Busch he needed to cut back his racing schedule.

So instead of running 36 races among the two support series, Busch planned on running just 17 (all in Nationwide) in 2012.

The result? Not good. Busch won only one race all year after winning 83 across the three series in the four previous seasons. He missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

By the end of the season, Busch was racing more and more — and performing better. In 2013? JGR not only wants Busch running Nationwide races, it will put him back in one of its cars.